Many of you who have taken my course have heard me talk about my experience harvesting rice in a remote Japanese mountain village. The villagers worked in teams to go from one family’s field to another, harvesting together as a group.
The groups self-organized, so no one told other individuals what to do. Instead, each person tried to synchronize with others and do whatever needed to be done to support the group effort.
You can probably see the parallels with Japanese companies: the lack of job descriptions and the custom of working as group members rather than independent individuals.
Now picture a Japanese person working remotely. How does he look around to see what needs to be done? How does she work in concert with the group? How does he get mentored? How does she constantly keep her superior in the loop? How do they build consensus in methodical one-on-one or small-group discussions, a process called nemawashi in Japanese?
I asked some of my Tokyo colleagues what effect remote working is having on their Japanese coworkers’ informal nemawashi-type of communication. Not surprisingly, the consensus is that it’s still too early to tell.
But one thing is clear: most Japanese workers don’t like it. On the other hand, most of the Americans in Japan I talked to like the fact that they can focus on productivity while also being able to have lunch with their kids. But the Japanese seem a little lost and somewhat bored without the stimulation of the office place.
I also asked for recommendations for overseas subsidiaries that always work remotely with the Japanese headquarters. “Being on the same IT package as your parent company makes a huge difference in the ability to do business together smoothly,” said my colleague, Devin, an expat in Tokyo. “Before, we used Skype, but now we’ve moved to Teams,” he added, underscoring that technology is constantly evolving, as the headquarters may migrate from Skype to Zoom, Teams, Slack, or something else in the future.
Like harvesting rice together, it's important to stay in sync with others--in this case, with headquarters--so that interaction is as seamless as possible.
by Diana Rowland, author Japanese Business: Rules of Engagement
Also see: Hanko Use Persists in Offices and Working Remotely: Avoid Communication Breakdown
